I am currently facing a dilemma. Webnovel offered me a contract for my novel but I read from other forum entries that apparently a contract with webnovel equals a slavery contract. Like they can make changes of my story without my permission, they can fire me and let somebody else continue my novel and I am forced to write every single day 1,5 k words. So I want to ask the people who signed a contract whether it is truly that bad?
Is signing up a contract with webnovel really that bad?
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Deleteduser87 I am forced to write every single day 1,5 k words
Correction to this, you are NOT forced to write anything per day for WN. You only have to publish 1.5k words per day for your novel to be eligible for the Minimum Guarantee System (MGS), which pays you $200 a month if you don't earn that much from readers unlocking your book/sending you gifts. If you don't want to be eligible for MGS, then you don't have to publish that many words per day. Heck, you can even go under indefinite hiatus, and Webnovel says that it's okay in the contract, as far as I remember.
For more info on MGS:
Explanation on the Minimum Guarantee System (MGS)
We will ensure that every contracted work that goes Premium will receive US$200/month in the following four months if the revenue you earn is less than US$200/month. Authors will need to release a minimum of 1,500 words daily for the entire calendar month. There must not be any breaks in between the dates of uploads. We will ensure that every contracted work that goes Premium will receive a minimum of US$200 in the following four months, provided that the below requirements have been met.
Note:
At least 1,500 Premium words/day: US$200/month
Requirements:
- Your novel must be contracted and you must have submitted the application for Premium
- MGS is applicable for the following four months after going Premium (the month of application itself is not included in the four months)
- Publish more than 1,500 Premium words daily, for the entire calendar month
- Must ensure consistent publishing of Premium chapters everyday during the entire calendar month
Example:
- <Apply for Premium by end April 2020>
- Enter Premium in April 2020, Premium takes effect in May, June, July, August on 2020
- Publish at least 1,500 Premium words per day (31 days in total for May, 30 days in total for June, etc.), for the entire month:
- Get US$200/month Minimum Guarantee if the revenue you earn is less than US$200/month
From contracted author Discord server.
Deleteduser87 You should read the Contract yourself, instead of letting the opinion of others dissuade/persuade you. It's not like you can't read what's written in the offered Contract. Moreover, it's not like you only have 10 minutes to sign or reject. Take your time to read and decide.
If you feel like the Contract you were offered is fair and you can accept it and are willing to be bound by it, go ahead and sign it. If you believe it puts too many restrictions on you, your creative freedom, and your right to free speech, and your right to write your story to completion, well... don't sign it. Receiving the Contract doesn't mean you must sign it.
And after you have read it and don't like any clauses, don't let anyone tell you nonsense along the lines of: Those are just there for XYZ reason and Webnovel doesn't enforce them, they have never enforced them... or they don't have the manpower to enforce them.
That reasoning is utter garbage. Unless they remove the clauses, always sign it with the assumption that they will enforce them on the earliest possible moment.
Deleteduser87 ike they can make changes of my story without my permission, they can fire me and let somebody else continue my novel
A lot of the clauses in the contract is simply there for reassurance. It's actually not that bad. The terms you listed aren't even enforced. I've never heard a case of Webnovel forcing an author to change the content, or even logging into author's account to change the details without permission. The only time that something like this might be enforced is if you're caught writing something illegal like child ____, but aside from that, it rarely happens. There are many authors who take breaks from their books, and even then, they're never fired. Webnovel wouldn't waste resource to hire someone else to continue a novel, when they can simply contract another book.
Deleteduser87 The contract is not that bad unless you're living in a first world country where 200$ is worthless. Well, even though you lose the copyright and all of the other thingies, the book is still written by you and you will be acknowledge as the author of the book.
Although there were like 14 pages of clauses, there hasn't any single breach on the contract for this year except for one that I knew. Besides, you get a lot of advantages like weekly featured that can expand your fans.
About the terms and conditions. Well, Webnovel lost only 800$ at the very most if you're using MGS and other thing. I don't think they will file a lawsuit to a foreign country.
Xincerely Please do not try to waive away any clauses with the argument that "they would never be used". They are there for a reason and if a profit-seeking company can make a profit by using those clauses they will. Ghost-writers are a real thing and have been used for a number of different series. Its not just "child ____". Novels have been stopped because they criticise the wrong people or are too "dark". This might sound crazy to some people, but it made sense to the powers that be, so imagine what other things could make sense to them.
Check out RABBITICOL's message just before yours. Particularly this section:
"And after you have read it and don't like any clauses, don't let anyone tell you nonsense along the lines of: Those are just there for XYZ reason and Webnovel doesn't enforce them, they have never enforced them... or they don't have the manpower to enforce them.
That reasoning is utter garbage. Unless they remove the clauses, always sign it with the assumption that they will enforce them on the earliest possible moment."
This is true for all contracts from any party, not just those from webnovel. The key message (to paraphrase Rabbitcol) is assume that any and all clauses will be enforced and, if you are fine with it, then the contract is fine. People have different desires and needs, what is a good/acceptable deal for one person does not necessarily make it so for another person. For example: some people their IP is their baby, while for others it is just another commodity that they are willing to sell for an acceptable price. A bottle of water for 1,000 dollars is crazy for most, but a good deal to a dehydrated person. Just don't try to package any old liquid and pretend its just water with a different meaningless "colour" and odour.
mng You know why a lot of people says that, because it isn't enforced.
Because certain clauses haven't been enforced so far does not guarantee that they will never be enforced. Sure, the chances are less considering the present scenario but when you are agreeing to the clauses mentioned, you should be okay if they are enforced because you have agreed to them. You wouldn't be able to stand up tomorrow and say, hey that's not fair. I signed because I saw those clauses never getting enforced. Why me? You wouldn't be able to ask that why me question in future. Having said that, I would say, take your own time going through the contract and the terms and conditions. If they work for you, just go ahead and sign one. If you aren't looking for what WN is providing, don't sign. It's really simple as that. The deal is good or bad depending upon your circumstances and preferences. Good luck. : )
Key word to add: YET.
While many of those clauses are not actively enforced, the fact they exist in a legally binding contract is what should put most on awareness.
No one thought Disney was going to run Star Wars into the ground when they bought Lucasfilms... but lo and behold they did exactly that.
The thing to take away from that is, never say never. Weirder shit happens and has when its come to those who buy good work and have employees who don't know good from bad when wielding their authoritative powers.
Thank you for your opinions guys. I think I won't sign I read all the 20 pages and with some clauses I am totally not fine with it. Like they have the ability to force me to stop my novel or yeah a third party can continue writing my novel. Or they are giving me instructions for my plot and I have to follow them even though I have a different opinion as it is their work now. I am not someone else puppet. Again thank you guys but if someone else is interested in signing a contract don't be discouraged by that if it really is your interest.
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I think Rabbiticol has given some good advise. It's my recommendation too. Read and ask your content editor your questions. They're there to help you with this.
You're instincts should tell you if you're going to sign or not. You should be 100 percent gungho willing to sign with all understanding of what you're signing. If you're not, especially after gathering content editor and independent advice from legal savvy peeps, there's your answer.
A rule of thumb, a clause is always enforceable. We're just fortunate at this stage that Webnovel is still yet to reach a level of maturity to enforce most of them. It's best to read and accept a fact that a condition and obligation clause is one that must, can and has the potential to happen.
Hope that helps.
Deleteduser87 Sorry, I will correct my statement. If you breach the contract, you will be blacklisted. No lawsuit. Just a blacklist.
Deleteduser87 hello.! May i know how many days did you wait for the contract.? and where did they send it.?
SugarCuddlyBear
I won the contract through WPC. Two weeks after the WPC I got the contract. They send me a notification through system. To read the contract I had to read it in webnovel inkstone.
I think most of people here are forgetting one painful yet important aspect of the clauses in the contract.
1st - Be god-damn realistic. Outside of the cream of the top of the webnovel (and even it that case, I doubt it would have any other meaning) your books when compared to the size of the entire webnovel, are worthless. Don't worry, my books, books of most of my author's friends and most of the authors I even know about, apply to this rank.
Because it's easy to say, sign something only with the understanding it will be used against you. But that's not how the world works. Do you know what kind of insane uproar enforcing even a single of those rules would cause? Do you realise the size of the backlash that WN would face with it? Then unless you believe (and trust me, unless you are top3, you don't have any reason to do so) that you are absolute monster whose novel is worth more than the literal rest of the webnovel portfolio, then you don't need to worry about it!
What's more, EVEN IF a clause were to be enforced (because let's say for some reasons WN turn's idiotic as most of the people bringing up those clauses would like it to be). What do you think would WN do? Go for immensely costly lawsuit only to gain about 1% of its costs alone back (in case you were actually a big author in the first place, which let's face it, most of peps are not)? SImply because they would like you to suffer?
I'm sorry guys, but you are not (nor am I or most if not all the author's writing for webnovel) worth the effort to go for such length. If you breach the contact, you can just say byebye to your earnings, as you wouldn't get a single more promotion till the rest of your life. But let's be honest, if you are willing to breach the contract, you don't care about webnovel either way.
Deleteduser87 .does the 2 weeks starts after they anounced the winner or after the wpc itself.? Sorry for asking a lot of questions. 
SugarCuddlyBear
Yeah if I remember correctly and don't worry I am not bothered by it if you ask me questions -
MotivatedSloth they wouldn't got into a lawsuit. They'd just fuck you over and say "read the contract. " the author would have to be the one to fight it and try to get those clauses rendered unenforceable but good luck lol. Esp good luck for poor authors trying to fight a corporation
Aby55 I will repeat once again what I said. If WN does this to small author, they screw themselves over. So no, they wouldn't care about small authors. It's not even worth to hire ghostwriters for small stories. People just thinks too highly of themselves. Learn how to be humble. Lack of humility is what irks me on this forum the most.
MotivatedSloth Why are you telling me to be humble? I'm not a small author worried this will happen to me. I'm a legal professional in my country making a clarification about what could happen. Calm down Mr. Defense Force. No need to attack me